Diamondbacks chief baseball officer Tony La Russa announced on Friday that prospect Archie Bradley has earned the final spot in the club’s starting rotation. There was an opening in the rotation following Thursday’s trade of Trevor Cahill to the Braves.

Bradley, 22, was the Diamondbacks’ first round pick in the 2011 draft, going seventh overall. He enters the season rated as the 11th-best prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus, 15th by MLB.com, and 25th by Baseball America.

Bradley performed well in spring training, compiling a 1.61 ERA with a 14/6 K/BB ratio in 22 1/3 innings. He started the 2014 season in Triple-A for the first time but an elbow injury forced him onto the disabled list for nearly two months, after which he pitched for Double-A Mobile.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher has reversed course and will continue to pay minor leaguers. Fisher tells Slusser, “I concluded I made a mistake.” He said he is also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees.

The A’s decided in late May to stop paying paying minor leaguers as of June 1, which was the earliest date on which any club could do so after an MLB-wide agreement to pay minor leaguers through May 31 expired. In the event, the A’s were the only team to stop paying the $400/week stipends to players before the end of June. Some teams, notable the Royals and Twins, promised to keep the payments up through August 31, which is when the minor league season would’ve ended. The Washington Nationals decided to lop off $100 of the stipends last week but, after a day’s worth of blowback from the media and fans, reversed course themselves.

An @sfchronicle exclusive: A's owner John Fisher reverses course, apologizes: team will pay minor-leaguers; "I concluded I made a mistake," he tells me. He's also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees: https://t.co/8HUBkFAaBx)